Sunshine Child
by KellyKatt19
Summary: When one thing changes, so too does everything else. Uzumaki Naruto has one difference from Canon-Naruto, but that one difference is enough to alter everything. Kakashi's going to have an interesting time with this Team Seven.
1. Chapter 1: Introducing - Uzumaki Naruto

**AN: Okay, okay okay okay, I really shouldn't be uploading yet another story, but all these completed first chapters are just sitting around on my iPod, and I feel like if I upload them, it'll motivate me to keep writing the next chapters :L. This one's kinda short, but I hope you like it anyway :).**

 **Disclaimer; Naruto does not belong to me, nor do any recognizable characters or plotlines. (Apply to every chapter, because I always forget about it).**

* * *

"UZUMAKI!"

The short little blonde haired child cackled madly as they ran, golden locks waving wildly in the breeze created by the speed they were racing at across the rooftops of Konoha.

"Get back here, you little brat!"

"How dare you!"

"What do you think you're doing, defiling the Hokage Monument?!"

The child turned around to face their pursuers, only long enough for them to poke their tongue out at the approaching chūnin, and for said chūnin to note the gleeful mischief dancing in bright blue eyes. That, of course, only enraged the group of shinobi further, and they collectively increased their pace.

However, it was for naught. The little blonde head abruptly dropped out of sight, startling the chūnin who had been catching up and who had expected the child to continue their trend of jumping rooftops. Instead, the little punk had dropped down into the alleyway below, scampering away into the crowded marketplace. The unsuspecting chūnin were taken completely by surprise. The majority of the group was forced to complete the jump over to the next rooftop.

Needless to say, that little stunt did nothing to endear the Uzumaki child to Konoha's residents. Especially considering the brat had just given all four heads on the Hokage Monument a makeover; an especially unattractive one. The civilians were casting dark looks at the iconic monument, muttering to themselves and to each other, but the shinobi were almost apoplectic with rage. For anyone to show that much disrespect to the four shinobi who had given their all to Konoha was an affront, but when it was _that_ child in particular!

* * *

A fair distance away, the child who had caused so much ruckus was sitting on a stool in a ramen stand, messily slurping up the salty noodles, and completely oblivious to the danger behind them.

"NARUTOOOO!"

Blue eyes widened dramatically and tan hands froze in place, ramen only centimeters away from pink lips. "Oh shit-" was all that the child managed to get out, before suddenly being separated from the wooden stool, unceremoniously dangling in the air in front of an irate chūnin.

"Eh, heh heh, hi there, Iruka-sensei?"

The sheepish greeting did nothing to calm the ire of the scarred male. His dark brown eyes were narrowed on the little brat that he held in one hand.

"Naruto…" he drew out the prankster's name ominously. Iruka watched in satisfaction as the irrepressibly mischievous grin slid off the whiskered face and the child seemed to lose all fight in midair. Even the blonde locks looked as though they were drooping. "Do you know what day it is, Naruto?"

The child scowled up at him, defiant even in their undignified position. "Of course I know what day it is! That's why my masterpiece had to be done this morning!" A tan hand flailed about in the direction of the Hokage Monument, visible from every corner of Konoha.

Iruka resisted the urge to shake the little punk. "Masterpiece?" he scoffed instead. "It's disrespectful! And…" Iruka drew himself up to his full height, glaring. "YOU'RE LATE FOR YOUR GRADUATION EXAM!"

And with that, he stalked off back to the Academy, still carrying the grumbling little prankster and leaving behind two very amused ramen chefs.

* * *

Mizuki smiled in satisfaction, patting himself on the back for a plan well done. _Of course_ the Uzumaki brat couldn't do a bunshin, and of course it had just lost its final chance at becoming a genin of Konoha. Why it had been allowed to enter the Academy in the first place was baffling, but in the end…

Everything was working out perfectly.

The demon had done all the hard work for him; all Mizuki needed to do was kill the beast (making it look like an accident of course, the scroll likely had protections on it, or jutsu in it, that would kill any Academy student), and take the scroll to his true leader.

Orochimaru-sama would surely reward him for this, Mizuki thought giddily. The Hebi Sannin was known to gift his most useful followers with absolutely _delicious_ power boosts, and Mizuki was nearly breathless with anticipation. But first, he had to get the scroll off the demon brat.

There was just one problem with that.

Mizuki snarled under his breath. "Iruka."

* * *

Umino Iruka couldn't help but smile at his most exuberant student. Naruto's wide blue eyes were almost luminescent in the darkness, joyful tears held back only by force of will. Iruka hated to admit it, but Uzumaki Naruto was his favourite student; the child's determinedly cheerful attitude and never-give-in philosophy was magnetic. Tonight had only highlighted how precious the young jinchūriki was to him. No way in hell was Iruka going to let that bastard Mizuki touch his student.

'Even though in the end, it was Naruto protecting _me,_ ' Iruka thought ruefully.

"Sensei? Should we be going to the hospital?" Naruto's delayed concern brought another smile to Iruka's lips. Typical of Naruto to ask _after_ Iruka had already been on the receiving end of a flying tackle hug, on top of the injuries that he already had.

He placed a hand on Naruto's blonde head, grinning softly. "Don't worry about it. The ANBU will probably be here in just a minute. I'll be fine."

Right on cue, four masked figures dropped into the clearing, two immediately moving towards Naruto and Iruka where they sat at the base of a tree. The other two set about collecting Mizuki's prone body and the discarded scroll.

"Umino-san?" One of the ANBU, Tori, Iruka thought, said. "We have orders from Hokage-sama to assist you to the hospital, and escort Uzumaki-san to his office."

Naruto turned panicked eyes on him. "Don't worry about it," Iruka assured Konoha's newest genin. "Sandaime-sama probably wants to talk to you about what Mizuki said."

Naruto's face fell at the reminder, and Iruka's heart ached for his poor student. A giant, nine-tailed bombshell had been dropped on the child tonight. Iruka only hoped that the Hokage could explain the situation in a way that the young jinchūriki could understand.

He smiled, gently tapping a finger on the downtrodden genin's nose. "It'll be fine, Naruto. Go talk with the Hokage, while I go get fixed up at the hospital, and then I'll see you at the Academy for team placements tomorrow, alright?"

The little blonde nodded, face fixed into an endearingly determined little frown.

Iruka chuckled. "Good girl."

* * *

 **AN: So how'd ya like it? I feel like I completely failed at using genderless words/phrases until the final line, and it was totally obvious anyway, but hopefully it didn't sound too bad? Lemme know what ya thought :).**

 **\- Kelly**


	2. Chapter 2: Little Miss Sunshine Herself

**AN: I'm back! It's been awhile, I'm sorry, but I hope you enjoy this anyway!**

* * *

When Uzumaki Naruto bounced into the classroom the day after she'd failed the genin exams, her classmates were understandably confused. They muttered to themselves, wondering if she had forgotten, or was just in denial (neither would surprise them). Naruto ignored them though, headed right for the back row, where her fellow deadlasts, her best friends, sat beaming at her.

The blonde girl returned their smiles with her own megawatt grin, squirming into place between Kiba and Shikamaru.

"How…?" Kiba trailed off.

Naruto snickered gleefully (even though her graduation circumstances weren't really that funny) and tapped a finger on her hitae-ate. "I'll tell you later." She promised.

Shikamaru sighed. "Troublesome." They all three just ignored him, Chōji munching on his chips, and Kiba and Naruto wriggling with impatience.

"Oi, Naru-chan!" Luckily, the other boys in the class were there to distract her from waiting. A whole group of them congregated in front of the row of deadlasts, much to the displeasure of the other girls. Naruto saw several of them glaring at her and rolled her eyes, sticking her finger up at them. Their anger changed to snotty disdain, and then back to embarrassed anger when the boys laughed with Naruto, playfully tugging on her long ponytails. Naruto put up with it for a moment before tossing her head and whacking Kiba and Shika in the face with the golden strands.

"Now then," she settled back in her seat, arms crossed and a teasing grin pulling at her lips. "What did you bakas want?"

"Ehhhh?!" Came the expected outcry. "You know what we wanna know!"

She giggled, widening her eyes innocently. "I don't know what you're talking about."

The leader of the pack of boys scowled. "Come on, Uzumaki-chan, tell us how come you're here."

Uzumaki-chan. Heh. It was amusing to Naruto, how the boys could never seem to be too cold to her (although the girls more than made up for that, she though with an affronted mental pout. Jealous twits). "Okay, okay," she laughingly surrendered. "I'm really supposed to be here." One tan finger tapped her new-but-old hitae-ate again. "Iruka-sensei gave me this himself."

And once again, unbelievable warmth blossomed through her whole body as she thought of the scarred chūnin who had risked his life for her, who had told her she was precious, and not a demon even though she apparently held the stupid thing in her stomach.

"That's so cool!"

"I'm so glad!"

Congratulations, Naru-chan!"

The sudden outcry of goodwill brought Naruto out of her thoughts, and a lump to her throat. "Guys…" She didn't know what to say. Her relationship with the boys in her class wasn't particularly close; they liked her more than the other girls, despite the stigma attached to her, because Naruto was just as willing to scuffle and scrap as they were, and they got a chance to try peek up her skirt (which Naruto promptly kicked them in the balls for whenever she caught them). But this, this genuine affection and happiness for her – it caught her a bit by surprise. So she simply smiled, beaming as wide as she could with her eyes still open, in the hope that these silly, idiotic, wonderful boys could see just how much it meant to her.

Apparently they could, because suddenly the bunch of them were blushing, heads lowered and hands in their hair. Naruto giggled. Being the only girl in a group of guys was hilarious. They were so cute; like puppies. "Thank you, guys." She said sincerely.

They all mumbled their replies, cheeks still red. Thankfully, a distraction presented itself in the form of Sakura and Ino getting into a catfight over who got to sit next to that cold little snowflake bastard, Sasuke.

"Jeez," one of the taller boys, Daisuke, said. "What's so great about him anyway? Why do all the girls love him so much?" He looked genuinely perplexed.

"Excuse me!" Naruto was greatly offended. Her whiskered face was scrunched up in true revulsion, blue eyes sparking in her irritation.

Shikamaru chuckled next to her, finally deigning to raise his head from the desk. "Don't worry, Naru-chan, we all know you're the only one smart enough not to fall for him." He, and the other boys, sweatdropped at Naruto's firm nod. _What a thing to be proud of…_

"Anyway," Shikamaru went on, ignoring his friend's oddness. "I guess because he's smart and talented, and he's got that tragic backstory that makes them all want to fix him." He rolled his eyes at the thought. "Oh, and I guess he must be pretty good looking, if they insist on squealing over him so much." _Whew._ Shikamaru didn't think he'd ever said so many words before lunch before.

Great, and now Kiba and Daisuke were looking at him like he was crazy. "What the hell? You've put that much thought into it?" Stupid Inuzuka.

"No," Shikamaru muttered pointedly. "I just thought of it now, because Daisuke asked. Why would I do something as troublesome as thinking about Sasuke, when I could be sleeping?"

That made the whole group chuckle and nod – truly, Nara laziness was legendary. Nobody loved sleeping as much as Shikamaru did, a fact that Naruto often lamented – loudly – over.

Sora, a tall brunet boy, shouldered his way to the front, so that he was face to face with the blonde girl. "Do you think that Uchiha is attractive, Naru-chan?"

Naruto giggled. Poor Sora looked as though his whole world depended on her answer. She wasn't entirely sure why it mattered, if all those stupid fluttery girls were in love with the bastard, but then, she wasn't a boy. Even if she was though, Naruto was perfectly sure that she would never like anybody stupid enough to fall for that ice-hearted snowflake.

"Meh," Naruto tipped her hand in a 'so-so' gesture. "I guess he is kinda pretty, for a boy." Aw, they all looked heartbroken. Funny puppies. "But he's too much of a snowflake for me. An angry snowflake." She grinned at the image that her words had conjured. Prissy ass bastard.

Naruto didn't know how the guys would have replied, because Iruka-sensei chose that moment to enter the room, sending everybody scattering to their seats in fright. The girl took quite a bit of satisfaction in the fact that for once, she wasn't the one getting in trouble. Without her notice, a huge, shit eating grin spread across her face, gaining bemused glances from Kiba, Shikamaru and Chōji.

"Alright, you brats!" Iruka-sensei roared irritably. "Sit down and shut up!"

This was so exciting! Naruto wriggled in her seat, wishing that Iruka-sensei would just hurry up and get to announcing the teams, instead of lecturing about shinobi duties and all that crap. She just wanted to become a kickass kunoichi , and then become Hokage, so that everybody in the village would see how awesome she really was, even if she had a shitty demon in her belly.

"And Team Seven will consist of: Uzumaki Naruto," _YES! Finally!_ "Haruno Sakura," _NO! Why?!_ "And Uchiha Sasuke." _WHAT?!_

"NOOOOO!" Naruto's horrified wailing drowned out even Sakura's triumphant shouts. The whole class turned to stare as one at the distraught blonde girl, causing Kiba and Chōji to sink down in their seats (Shikamaru was asleep).

"Naruto!" Iruka-sensei snapped. "What is wrong with you?!"

"Iruka-sensei!" Naruto turned betrayed blue eyes on the chūnin. "Why would you do this to me?"

"What?" He was utterly nonplussed.

"My team!" She cried. "I finally become a genin, and you give me Fairy Floss and the Snowflake!"

There was a beat of silence, before the entire class burst out in raucous laughter. Sasuke looked offended and Sakura looked infuriated, but Naruto had no time for them. She stared pleadingly at Iruka-sensei, who had barely held in his own laughter, silently begging him to reconsider.

Unfortunately, all Naruto got in return was a harsh scowl as her sensei pulled himself together. "Naruto! As the dead-last, you don't get to have a say in who your teammates are! Especially when one of them is the Rookie of the Year!" Iruka-sensei gestured at Sasuke-snowflake, as if that was supposed to mean something to her.

Naruto flopped back in her seat, an intense scowl marring her face. Then she shook her head, once again hitting Kiba and Shikamaru with her long ponytails. This would not ruin her mood – she wouldn't let it! Even if she was stuck with two of her least favourite people as teammates, Uzumaki Naruto would not give up, dattebayo! She was a real ninja now, and nothing would stop her from becoming Hokage!

* * *

"What is taking so looooooong?!" Naruto groaned, throwing her head back dramatically. She had been stuck waiting in the classroom with Sakura and Sasuke for over two hours, and she was bored. Her new teammates were no fun at all; Sasuke was a brooding bastard, and Sakura was a delusional bubble brain.

"Shut up, Naruto!" Despite Sakura's snapped words, Naruto could tell that the other girl agreed with her.

"What'd you say, Fairy Floss?!" Naruto yelled back, just for the sake of having something to do.

Sakura tossed her long pink hair, glaring at the blonde girl. "What's that you're calling me, Banana Brain?!"

"What? Fairy Floss?" Naruto grinned mockingly. "It suits ya, don't it Sasuke?" Her grin gained an evil edge at the way Sakura's head snapped around in horror, desperately watching Sasuke for any sign that he agreed with Naruto.

Sasuke grunted, eyeing the two of them with annoyance. Naruto, on a spur of the moment decision, vaulted atop the desk that the teme was sitting at, and got right up in his face, glaring into his black eyes. She ignored the way Sakura started yelling in outrage, and instead spoke to the Uchiha.

"What's your problem, huh? Think you're too cool for us, Snowflake-chan?"

Sasuke's answer was lost in the shrieks that both girls let out when an unexpected voice spoke up. "Yo."

What wasn't lost, however, was the sight of Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke staring at each other with wide, horrified eyes, their mouths pressed together in a parody of a kiss.

"Hmm," the voice that had caused Naruto's unfortunate fall forward spoke up again, catching the attention of all three genin and breaking the moment of stillness. "My first impression is… this is going to be fun."

Naruto finally broke away from Sasuke's pale visage, almost spitting in disgust but holding back at the last minute. She wiped her arm across her mouth instead, glaring at the tall, silver haired jōnin with the masked face who was standing in the doorway to the classroom.

"Who the hell are you?!" She demanded, leaping off the desk and away from the icy aura that Sasuke-teme was emanating.

The jerk with the masked face and one eye covered by his hitae-ate simply smiled (Naruto assumed it was a smile; her eyes did the same upward curving thing) and waved two fingers. "Well, it would seem that I'm to be your new jōnin-sensei."

Naruto gaped. Before she could even begin to find the words that she wanted to say to that, the stranger had disappeared in a puff of smoke, a mirth-filled "Meet me on the roof in ten minutes!" the only evidence that he had ever been there in the first place.

Slowly, Naruto turned to face her teammates, bright eyes wide with dread. "You don't think he was serious, do you?"

Sasuke twitched, pale face pinched with annoyance. "Of course he was serious, dobe." He got up and, hands stuffed in his pockets, sauntered leisurely out the door, Sakura chasing quickly after him.

The blonde girl growled, shaking her fist at the departing duo before breaking into a run to overtake them.

She couldn't _believe_ the freaks that she had been given as teammates. What was she going to do with them?

* * *

 **AN: Lemme know what you thought! Also, apologies, but I still don't think there will be any sort of schedule to updates for any of my stories. I hope you'll bear with me anyway!**

 **\- Kelly**


	3. Chapter 3: The Brats

**AN: I feel so sorry for anybody who follows my stories. Every chapter starts with an apology coz I'm the shittiest updater ever. Just know that nothing of mine is abandoned, no matter how long it's been since I updated it.**

* * *

Kakashi was amused. It seemed like this teaching thing was going to be more fun than he'd thought; already he had managed to create a scene cheesy enough to be in one of Jiraiya-sama's books.

He leaned back against the railing that enclosed the roof of the Academy, seemingly lost in his little orange book. In actuality, his eyes were trailing over words that he pretty much had memorized, while his ears listened out for the thumping of little genin feet.

Soon enough, the door to the roof crashed open, and Konoha's resident Jinchūriki stumbled out. Her teammates were seconds behind her. All three of them were sending burning glares of resentment Kakashi's way.

He waved back.

The interviews that followed weren't at all surprising; Naruto was a loudmouthed brat, Sasuke was a moody brat, and Sakura was an obsessed brat. And did he mention that they all hated each other? Well, Naruto hated both of them, and they both hated her. Not that the relationship between the other two was any healthier.

Kakashi really had his work cut out for him with these three.

* * *

The bell test didn't go any better; they barely scraped through by the skin of their teeth. Kakashi wasn't entirely sure if it was just because the three of them didn't get along in the first place, which made them working together all the less likely, or if it simply hadn't occurred to any of them to team up.

He didn't know which one was worse.

Ah, well. Naruto's natural puppy-dog eyes had prevailed, and they had passed, in the end. Even if sharing food was Kakashi grasping at straws to allow them a pass.

"Ne, ne, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto piped up behind him. "Where are we going?" Apparently she had forgiven him for that little kissing incident.

Kakashi glanced back, smirking at his reluctantly curious (Sasuke) and impatient (Naruto) genin. "Maa, Naruto-chan, can't you just wait and see?"

She skipped up to walk at his side, shaking her head furiously. "Tell meeeeeee, Sensei!" She pleaded, pouting up at him with big blue eyes. Kakashi held in a snort – that was definitely a practiced expression.

"NARUTOOOOOO!" Ahh, that was his other lovely little kunoichi-in-training. "STOP HARASSING SENSEI!"

"Shut up, Bubble Brain!" Naruto shot back, suddenly walking backwards as she turned to argue with Sakura. "You wanna know just as much as I do!"

Sighing, Kakashi tuned out the girls' high pitched voices, returning his attention to the little orange book in his hand. The walk from the little red bridge to Training Ground Two took almost twenty minutes, a journey interspersed with the shrieks of preteen girls, the occasional 'Hn's of a mood avenger, and Kakashi's own poorly hidden snorts as he eavesdropped on his genins' spirited conversation.

He wondered if he should maybe put a stop to all that arguing…

Nah. Forcing them to get along wouldn't help anything – they would just have to get used to each other.

"You're late, Kakashi!"

He sniggered. That was a familiar sentence.

Before he could reply to the aggravated shout though, a little blonde blur had gone racing past him, shrieking her lungs out.

"Kibaaaaaaa! Shikaaaaaaa! Chōjiiiiiii!"

Kakashi watched on in amusement as his student ran towards three of the male genin who were waiting for them, bowling straight into their waiting arms and sending all four of the to the ground. So, she didn't hate _all_ of her classmates.

Just the ones she'd been stuck with.

"Hey, Naru-chan." The largest boy, obviously an Inuzuka, grinned nonchalantly at the girl who was somehow sprawled equally over each of the three boys. His ninken yapped beside them.

"Good to see you, Naru-chan." That was the Akimichi boy, smiling cheerily and holding his – miraculously – full bag of chips out to the side of the pile.

"Troublesome as ever, Naru-chan." And there was the Nara boy, sighing tiredly into the golden hair covering his face.

Naruto scrambled to her feet, hauling the Nara up with her. "I missed you guys!"

She received three fond smiles in return for the sentiment, even as the Nara spoke exasperatedly. "It's only been a day."

Deciding to leave the genin to their own devices (and observing the way that Sasuke was blatantly ignoring his old classmates, leaning against a tree that was a far away from where Sakura and another blonde girl had just started arguing as he could get), Kakashi sidled up to Asuma and Kurenai where they had been observing their own genin.

"Anything interesting so far?" He muttered, eyes still conspicuously on his book.

Asuma snorted. "Nah. Typical kid behaviour; my three knew each other already, and the boys are pretty friendly with Inuzuka, but nothing really stood out until you guys got here."

Kurenai nodded. "Hinata-chan is very shy, but she and Shino-kun seem to be getting along quite well. Kiba-kun ditched them as soon as he saw the other boys, but it's only been one day."

"Hmm," Kakashi hummed thoughtfully. "My three have very unhealthy feelings for each other."

Asuma's second snort was drowned out by a shout of surprise. Naruto, who had been huddling with her little cohorts, suddenly barrelled over, flinging herself at the burly shinobi. "Asuma-ji-chan!" She shouted, arms wrapped tightly around his waist. "Where have you been?!"

Well. The Sandaime hadn't said anything about _this_.

Kakashi and Kurenai both eyed Asuma questioningly. He grinned sheepishly back, patting Naruto's little blonde head. She detached herself quickly, standing back and staring at Asuma with narrowed eyes.

"Where the hell did you disappear to?!" She demanded.

Asuma raised his hands defensively. "I didn't think you would remember me, Naruto-chan. I haven't seen you since you were what, eight?"

Naruto nodded furiously. "Jiji said you were _busy_." The quotation marks were almost visible. Kakashi was strangely proud.

"Naruto-chan, how do you know Asuma-sensei?" He butted in, not bothering to contain his curiosity. By now, the remaining genin had also gathered around, evidently just as lost as the jōnin.

"Ehh, I met him aaaaaages ago!" Naruto cried exuberantly. "At the Tower! And I was really surprised, coz I didn't know Jii-chan had a son."

"What?" The little Yamanaka girl that Sakura had been arguing with stepped forward, hands on hips and a demanding frown on her face. "Naruto, how could you not know that your own Grandfather had a son? And how are you even related to our sensei?"

Asuma was the one who answered – wisely, in Kakashi's opinion. Naruto looked supremely offended, and was probably about to start a shouting match. "It's okay, Naruto-chan," Asuma smiled over at the shorter blonde. "And Ino-chan, we're not really related. Naruto-chan is on friendly terms with my father, which is why she calls me her uncle."

Ino raised a finger to her lips, a thoughtful gesture that would likely draw a fair bit of attention when she grew older, Kakashi thought amusedly. "But Asuma-sensei, you said yesterday that your father is the Hokage."

Kakashi waited with barely hidden glee as the realization crept over all of the genin's faces.

"Whaaaaaaat?!" Sakura and Ino erupted at the same time.

Naruto stuck her tongue out at the other girls. "Bleehhh! That's what you get for being stuck up cows back in the Academy and not listening to me!"

"Why you!" Sakura launched herself forward, clearly looking to swing her clenched fist directly into Naruto's head. Kakashi caught her easily, not even looking up from his book. He wasn't reading it, of course, this was far too hilarious a situation to only pay half-attention to, but he did have a reputation to uphold.

"Maa, maa, calm down kids," Kakashi chuckled, still holding onto a struggling Sakura. "Let's just get on with it, shall we?"

That was enough to gain the genin's attention; Naruto stopped her taunting, and Sakura's enraged writhing calmed enough for Kakashi to feel comfortable putting her back on the ground. All nine of the new graduates were loosely congregated around the three jōnin, in some semblance of order.

And by order, Kakashi meant that the genin were all standing in front of the right sensei, but somehow nowhere near their own teammates. Team Seven, being in the middle, had Naruto squashed between her three friends from the other teams, Sakura glaring at Ino, and Sasuke hovering around the back, with the little Hyūga girl and the Aburame boy.

Exchanging glances with his fellow sensei, Kakashi just knew that these little brats wouldn't be making anything easy for him.

* * *

Sasuke could barely contain his impatience. He was finally, _finally,_ a genin, able to start doing more intense training and learning to become stronger, and he was stuck _here,_ once again forced into interaction with his annoying classmates from the Academy.

Currently, Sasuke was sitting between the dobe and the Hyūga – probably the safest place for him among the kunoichi, even if Naruto was an aggravating failure of a ninja.

At least _she_ didn't have a crush on him.

"Right!" Yūhi Kurenai, as the female jōnin had introduced herself, clapped her hands sharply. "I suppose everybody wants to know exactly what we're doing here?"

There was a chorus of agreements.

"It's simple, really. The three of us are all new jōnin-sensei, and we all attended the Academy during wartime. We thought it might be easier on all of us if we could get a general idea of what the Academy taught you, and where you're all at." Kurenai explained, smiling gently.

"Does that mean we get to spar?!" Naruto shouted eagerly, almost deafening Sasuke.

On the other side of the dobe, Kakashi chuckled lightly. "No, Naruto-chan, no sparring. Not yet, anyway."

The girl settled back with a pout, arms crossed huffily. Sasuke rolled his eyes. Their sensei had already seen what they were capable of, during the bell test. This was… Information gathering.

"Ano, so what exactly do you want to know?" Sakura spoke up, shyly twirling a strand of pink hair around her finger.

Asuma grinned, a cigarette in between his teeth. "Anything you guys wanna tell us. Favourite subject, best subject, all that kind of stuff."

Ah. Sasuke blinked, taking in the mischief glimmering in the male jōnin's eyes. That was why all three teams had been gathered together for something as simple as this; all sorts of truths would out themselves, with nine new genin eager to show off.

"Why don't you start us off, Sakura-chan?" Kakashi said languidly. "You don't have to go in-depth, just give us a basic overview." He eye-smiled at them all and Sasuke had the oddest feeling that if his one eye were open, it would be gleaming in an extremely sinister way.

The pinkette blinked, darting a quick glance in Sasuke's direction. Sasuke determinedly didn't let on that he'd noticed it; what was the girl even looking to him for? _He_ didn't know her answers to the jōnin's questions (nor did he particularly care, to be honest).

"Weeeell, I guess my favourite subject at the Academy was a tie between history and ninjutsu practise," she shot a glare at Yamanaka, who'd made a snide comment about her 'oversized forehead matching her oversized brain'. "Because they were both really interesting! My least favourite was probably taijutsu practise, and," green eyes flicked nervously towards Sasuke, who once again ignored her. He already knew what she was going to say, and he didn't _care_ (beyond what it might mean for the team, and therefore, his own training). "It was also my weakest class."

Kurenai clapped her hands together, smiling softly at the pinkette. "Well done, Sakura-chan! Thank you for being honest." The girl's face lit up in pleasure at the praise. "And now it's Naruto-chan's turn, yes?"

Sasuke sighed. This was going to take forever. When would the real training start?

* * *

Later that night, Kakashi was lying flat on his back atop his single bed, wondering if he had made a mistake in accepting this assignment. Child-minding was exhausting. He hoped to _god_ that it was some kind of first day excitement that'd had his brats so energetic today, but in the deepest part of his soul, he knew it was wishful thinking.

They were only just getting started.

* * *

 **AN: There we go! Pointless fluff? Some semblance of a start-up plot? Who knows. But it's definitely something. Don't give up on me!**

 **\- Kelly**


End file.
